Bumblebee

Bumblebee. Travis Knight. 2018.

Wow. So, OK, this is a Transformers movie not directed by the guy who does the other Transformers movies. I kinda enjoy those other movies, but they’re less like movie than a spectacle that happens before your eyes and then they’re over. You basically can’t comprehend them, because there’s nothing there, which I like.

But this is a totally different thing. It starts with a 15 minute sequence which is basically all fighting, and for the first time in a Transformers movie, it looks gorgeous and you can actually follow along what’s happening. It all makes sense!

It’s set in the 80s, and instead of the normal horrible soundtrack we get, like, The Smiths and er Howard Jones. It’s fun.

I laughed out loud at several of the scenes, but it’s not without its problems. As usual with these sort of movies, it gets bogged down in “character development”, which is code word for the protagonist talking about their father (who wasn’t there for them when they grew up). This one has a father that’s dead, so there’s a reason for that, for once.

The actors are fun, though, and the animated sequences are a hoot. But even at less than two hours (half an hour less than usual) it still feels like they could have removed about half an hour from the movie. Or perhaps just fifteen minutes.

Then it would have been The Best Movie Ever In The History Of Ever.